Doors of a vehicle should stably maintain an open state when passengers get in or get out and when items are loaded or unloaded so that the getting in or getting out and the loading and unloading are smoothly performed. However, door hinges simply maintain a mounting state of the door and only allow the door to rotatably open and close, but cannot maintain the doors in an open state at a predetermined angle during an opening and closing operation.
Accordingly, on a vehicle, a door checker device is installed on a central region of a front side surface on an inner panel of the door so that the door can maintain a stop-state at two or three positions during the opening and closing operation of the door.
The door checker device generally includes: a fixing member that is attached to a vehicle body side; a checker arm that is hinge-combined with the fixing member to be rotated and is located between the door and the vehicle body; a door checker that is attached to the door and maintains the door in a stop-state at a position of a moving path of the door while moving along a length direction of the checker arm by accommodating the checker arm therein.
The door checker device also includes: a base bracket having a predetermined space therein; a slider that is accommodated in the base bracket; a spring located on a side of the slider; and a base cover that is combined with a side surface of the base bracket.
The device for checking the door of a vehicle of the related art having the above configuration is operated as follows.
When a door is opened, the position of the door is changed. The position of the door is changed according to the opening state of the door, and at this point, the door checker is also operated on the checker arm as the door is moved. For example, the door at an uppermost position is in a completely opened state, and thus, in this case, the door checker is pushed back to the final end point of the checker arm together with the door.
In this process, the checker arm moves along the inner space formed in the door checker, and the slider accommodated in the inner side of the door checker contacts a concaved groove of the checker arm when the checker arm passes through the inner space. Therefore, a buffer force is provided to the opening force of the door, that is, a function of the door checker is performed.
In the door checker device of the related art, an operation region of the door checker is limited to two or three steps. For example, when it is assumed that the door opening limited to step 1 is when the door is opened to 35 degrees and the door opening limited to step 2 is when the door is opened to 70 degrees, the door must be continuously opened and closed in a case where another vehicle is very closely parked beside the vehicle so the door cannot be opened more than 35 degrees and the door has to stop at a certain position.
Also, when the concaved groove is worn due to long term operation, the door checker may not properly operate, and thus, the door may be closed in a case where the door should be maintained in an open state, which may lead to an accident.
Also, recently, a technique has been developed whereby, when an object is located near a door, the opening of the door is limited by detecting the location of the object. However, the mechanical door checker of the related art cannot properly induce the stoppage of the opening door in an emergency situation.